Justice by InSilva
Disclaimer: not mine, not mine.
Chapter Twenty: Apart
Busy with yet another coffee, Saul stared out of the window and waited for Turk to return from the bathroom. He wished he'd thought to pick up a pack of cards. As it was, they'd done the paper and finished the crossword (And whatever Turk said, the capital of Alaska was Juneau. There weren't enough letters for Anchorage, anyway, unless you wanted to add a few squares in the margin of the paper).
A stray glance outside and Saul's attention perked up. That was Danny. Danny in a dark suit with a phone to his ear looking as if he wanted a private conversation. Probably Tess, Saul thought, judging by his face.
He sighed and wondered for the nth time how things had got so complicated. Once upon a time it was simple. There was Rusty. Then there was Danny and Rusty and almost at once that had blurred into one word. Honestly, he had never seen anything close to what they were together and what they meant to each other and how they were meant to be together. And the part of him that cared so very much for Rusty rejoiced in the fact that he had found someone so right. Saul didn't want or need details further than that though actually, he doubted it did go down that particular route of intimacy. They didn't need it. They just needed to be in the same room to be part of an indescribable connection, to be locked into it so tightly that neither could escape it, to stand together and to shine with a blinding brilliance.
And somewhere along the way, Tess had come on the scene. So now it was Rusty and Danny and Tess. Or Tess and Danny and Rusty. But always Danny in the middle. Always Danny sitting between the two of them, caring for each of them, loving each of them…
Saul felt certain that Rusty had come to terms with Tess quicker than others would have (if there were any others like Danny and Rusty) though he knew there had still been a time of insecurity at the beginning and however brief that had been, Saul hated to think of that. Yes, Rusty had understood exactly what Tess was to Danny and where he, Rusty, sat in the equation. The row when it had happened hadn't been directly about Tess, he was sure.
After the Benedict job, Saul hoped that Tess was now in a similar position. Danny had risked an awful lot on the throw of a die and he'd been gambling on many things, not least Tess's understanding and Rusty's support. Saul knew Tess and Rusty had spent time together waiting for Danny to emerge from his second spell inside. That had had to be talking time, surely.
Tess had certainly seemed more relaxed at their second wedding. She had smiled and joked and Saul had carefully watched her when Rusty and Danny were together. She had seemed comfortable; accepting; happy. Whatever Rusty and Danny had said or done, together or separately, it seemed to be working. And although it was pointless trying to read Rusty when Tess and Danny were on their own, he too seemed reconciled with Danny. Happier than Saul had seen him since Tess had appeared as a wild card.
Danny had just never seemed to stop smiling. And yes, it was his wedding day and yes, that was expected. Saul just had the feeling that there were underlying reasons for the happiness.
He saw Danny now, chatting on the phone, a little tense around the mouth but evidently doing a reasonable job at reassurance judging by the patience in his expression and the nodding. Danny hung up and Saul saw the sigh and winced. Things were never quite as clear cut as you wanted them to be.
A man appeared at Danny's shoulder and Saul saw the tension rising through Danny. Saul stared at the other man, completely calm, completely in control and Saul's heart sank. He didn't know for sure but he would have wagered money on the other's identity.
It was an eleven to one verdict but that was enough.
"Not guilty," Rusty's voice rang out in the courtroom as he delivered the jury's decision and he saw Gino's face crumple with shocked delight.
Judge Fuller dismissed the case and Bobby and his associates stepped aside to allow the jury to step down into the courtroom.
"Stay close," Bobby whispered as Rusty moved past him and Rusty shot him an unforgiving look though they both knew that Bobby wasn't the real target.
Rusty walked over to where Gino was stood, smiling at Barbara. He leaned in to Gino so that they were eye to eye.
"Make it count," he said in a low voice and Gino nodded slowly and soberly enough that Rusty felt he would.
Rusty moved away and Bobby caught his elbow.
"I've been asked to make sure you get safely to an airport. Stay here till we clear the others out of here, OK?"
"Why don't you just handcuff me?" Rusty scowled.
"I might if I didn't think you'd enjoy it. Don't you make me arrest you." There was a distinct threat there. Bobby meant it.
Still scowling, Rusty slumped into a chair at the back of the room and watched the Feds carefully and calmly ushering people through and out.
"Please let me through, please let me through," Saul was pushing his way through the throng that had gathered in the corridor outside.
The man in the suit on the door was having none of it.
"You need to stand back, sir."
"I need to see-"
"Sir, the trial is finished. People are coming out now."
Saul drew himself up and glared at the man with the full force of everything he had.
"Let me in there now."
Unfortunately for Saul, the man was obviously trained in repelling such advances.
"You just have to wait."
Muttering at bureaucracy and people who followed orders, Saul turned round to find Turk had caught up with him. "We told him?"
"We're not even close to telling," Saul frowned.
It hadn't been Bobby's idea, of course.
Rusty hadn't planned to speak to him so soon but it was necessary to convey exactly how very wrong this was. Of all the mean, low-down, underhanded… He pulled out his phone and punched in the number. It was answered on the third ring.
"Danny-" And there was so much wrath in those two syllables.
"I'm sorry. Danny can't come to the phone right now, he's a little tied up."
And everything folds in on itself. Everything wraps up and around and down till all there is left is the phone in his hand and the voice in his ear. The words and the voice and the chasm that falls open in front of him, immense and razored. He gives a little half-choke and if he hadn't been seated, his legs would have given way.
"So there I am," the voice continues, the voice that is all he can focus on, the voice that holds the power, the voice that is in control… "waiting as inconspicuously as possible because others may be looking for me. Waiting as invisibly as I can for the trial to be over. It is over by the way, isn't it? And you will have done exactly what I didn't want you to do." It's a statement and the voice sounds unsurprised. Rusty feels the numbness reaching his fingers.
"I waited, Mr Ryan. Or may I call you Rusty?"
"Vincente…" He breathes it into the phone as the chasm looms larger.
"And then in one fell swoop, I discovered not only the truth about you but the truth about you." There is a difference in the yous and Rusty feels the unrelenting twisting of the knife in his very blood.
"Oh, it took me a while," Vincente goes on. "It took me a ridiculous amount of time to get there. I should have listened to my instincts, you know. Right at the start, right when I met the pair of you."
"Don't-" And it's leaden and full of pain and all things.
"Don't speak, listen to me. Because thanks to you, I only have a limited amount of free time-"
"Is he-?" He can't ask the question. "Don't-" he says again.
"Don't interrupt me again." Vincente says in a way that makes Rusty keep silent though the scream is building.
"Now, I don't pretend to understand it but I can't ignore it. When I met you, met both of you, I took a lot of surface for granted. That really was sloppy of me."
He breaks off and Rusty can hear him talking to someone in the background. "Not like that, like this."
There is the sound of exertion and something smacking wetly into flesh and there is the faintest of groans and Rusty thinks he may die then and there. He stuffs his fist into his mouth, biting down on the knuckle as he listens. It happens again and he hears Vincente say, "Better".
"Sorry about that. Where was I? Oh, yes. Because if I'd known, all I would have needed to do is to take him away for a couple of days and you would have rolled over like a spaniel."
"Please…" Rusty can't help himself.
"I said to be quiet," Vincente warns and waits till he is sure of the silence. "Now, I find myself seriously inconvenienced. It was a genuine mistake, you see. Clean hit, wrong guy. And I can explain that but it won't help and it won't save me. I'd hoped Gino going down for it would be the answer but that's before anyone decided to play detective. As you probably saw, they had someone in court and by now, they'll be putting it all together."
Rusty cannot form any words; the numbness has already pervaded his chest and is stealing across his face. Vincente speaks again.
"Right now, I guess you're thinking about begging or pleading or some sort of fairytale where you can take his place. Am I right?"
"Please…" He forces the word out and he can't manage any more. His brain is working overtime on unthinkable images. His words are tangled over each other. His throat feels rasped and all he can focus on is Vincente's voice at the other end of the phone; Vincente's voice, a million miles away; Vincente, a million miles away…with Danny…with Danny…
Vincente laughs and there is no humour in the laugh and no sadism and he is still all about the efficiency and the results and Rusty feels the pressure pushing up inside his skull unbearably.
"I still don't know what to call it but I know how deep it runs and I just wish I'd realised sooner how intense and powerful it is. And that's why having him here is just like having you. Somehow, strangely, I think it's going to hurt you more."
"Danny…" It is a whisper and a sob and a plea and a prayer.
"Honestly, Mr Ryan…Rusty," Vincente chides. "If you were me, what would you do?"
The phone goes dead and Rusty feels the fear eating through him. Because he knows he is right about Vincente: nothing will move him, nothing will stop him and Danny is lying in the path of it all.
He looks up and sees Saul and Turk and Bobby together, talking urgently, and then they look at him and he feels his features try to pull every which way at once into anger and grief and fear and guilt and he still cannot move.
Saul is first to reach him.
"Danny…" he says brokenly and Saul wraps his arms round him like he's sixteen again and holds him while the shaking starts; holds him as he falls into the chasm with the walls of razor blades ripping through him; holds him as he disintegrates into agony absolute.